How cyclones led to locust attacks that cost India INR100 crore, and why the worst is yet to come

While locust attacks are nothing new, the swarms which have ravaged crops in Rajasthan and Gujarat of late stand out because of their origins. The attacks that have cost the country at least INR100 crore are linked to the cyclones that caused unusually heavy rainfall to the Arabian desert in 2018, providing the locusts fertile breeding grounds.

Swarms of locusts at a village in Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan on January 16.

Nokh is a hard-to-spot dot on the map, one of the last villages on the Indo-Pak border in Rajasthan. Early in May last year, the village, along with hundreds of others across 10 districts of Rajasthan and at least four districts of Gujarat witnessed a terrible spectacle that otherwise finds mention in mythology: Massive swarms of locusts turned the sky

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for his losses yet. “There are farmers with even smaller fields, even poorer than me. They need help. I don't know what we will do if the tiddi (locust) comes back this year.” Clearly, India’s already troubled agriculture sector should brace up for a more frequent and extreme threat. ( Graphics by Abdul Shafiq and Mohammad Arshad)

Nokh is a hard-to-spot dot on the map, one of the last villages on the Indo-Pak border in Rajasthan. Early in May last year, the village, along with hundreds of others across 10 districts of Rajasthan and at least four districts of Gujarat witnessed a terrible spectacle that otherwise finds mention in mythology: Massive swarms of locusts turned the sky

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for his losses yet. “There are farmers with even smaller fields, even poorer than me. They need help. I don't know what we will do if the tiddi (locust) comes back this year.” Clearly, India’s already troubled agriculture sector should brace up for a more frequent and extreme threat. ( Graphics by Abdul Shafiq and Mohammad Arshad)

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